


Himself

by enblackink



Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-16
Updated: 2012-03-16
Packaged: 2017-11-02 00:41:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/363122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enblackink/pseuds/enblackink
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Naruto finds someone to keep him company; a short introspective piece going <i>way</i> back to the beginning of the series.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Himself

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Naruto is a product of Kishimoto Masashi.  
> Comments: with Many Thanks to my beta TJ Dragonblade.  
> Warnings: None.  
> B: 03.16.2011  
> P: 05.05.2011

Naruto entered his empty apartment with a sigh and hung up his jacket. After a hard day of training, sometimes it was a relief to come home and sit in the silence, but that was rare. Most times the absolute emptiness in his life felt like an ongoing trial, but the jury had already come to a conclusion without anyone knowing what the case detailed. He was guilty. He’d inherited bad karma from some previous life. He was cursed. Naruto was _that kid_ whom no one spoke about or spoke to.

He removed his forehead protector and placed it down with a lingering caress. He didn’t want to be alone today. Today, he wanted to sit at his raggedy table and tell someone that he’d been assigned to Team 7 with Sakura like he’d wanted. He’d succeeded in playing a trick on a jounin. He’d bested a genius like Sasuke, however briefly. He wanted to be looked upon fondly and lauded with praise.

Everything he owned was second hand. There were cracks in his dresser and the paint was chipped. His bed was a little lumpy. Two of the legs of his kitchen table had a wedge of wood beneath them to keep it balanced. The Third had brought him a microwave at some point during one of his many progress reports, and he had a stove, but never used it.

His apartment was full of clutter, but it was never truly dirty; Naruto frowned as he cleaned up the remains of his breakfast. He was bad at leaving things like that out in the morning. Late night practices on his jutsu tended toward oversleeping just enough to make clean up after breakfast the difference between arriving on time and tardiness. He had a pair of cheap chopsticks, one spoon, one knife, one bowl, and one plate to his name. Sometimes he thought about buying another utensil or another dish but knew it would be futile. No one came here but him.

He had finally succeeded in making friends with his teacher, Iruka, but he’d had to mistakenly steal the Scroll of Seals and be hunted by Mizuki like the animal he housed for that to happen. But still, he was grateful. He was really happy. Naruto smiled at the forehead protector he’d placed on the counter while he cleaned. He would shine it after doing the dishes. Then he would take a shower and go to bed early so he would be rested for the training his new team leader, Kakashi, had planned for tomorrow.

But even as he thought he had an arrangement for the night, Naruto was performing the seals -- which were surprisingly easy after years of struggling with this particular technique -- that he had the night before. “Kage bunshin,” he stated. And with a puff of smoke he was staring at himself in bright orange pants, a black t-shirt, and a pleased expression. “Help me clean up,” he told the clone.

“Okay!” it agreed enthusiastically. It went to scrub the meager dishes while Naruto grabbed some polish from under a cabinet to shine his treasured forehead protector.

The clones weren’t exact replicas of their creator, Naruto had realized at some point. They all looked the same, yes. They all had the same fighting ability, true. However, some clones were smarter, some were louder, some were quieter, and some were more argumentative than the original him. Naruto didn’t know if that was normal and he didn’t know who to ask about it. He did know that he liked having someone else in his apartment even if it was just himself.

“Are you ready to take a shower?” the clone asked when it’d finished in the kitchen. “’Cause I can go start the water.”

Naruto grinned. “That would be great.”

After their shower Naruto’s clone tucked him in to bed and then settled beside him because the clone knew without being told that Naruto was lonely. He couldn’t tell it about his day and ask it to sing his praises, because it already knew what happened to them. And he couldn’t tell it his deep dark secrets, because they shared those too. But clones sometimes had something to offer that he was not aware of.

“Tell me a story,” Naruto said.

The clone smirked. “You know we’re not good at things like that.”

Naruto sighed. His self could be very exasperating sometimes.

“Well, talk anyway.”

The clone perched its chin on its hands and regarded the original. “Naruto, you do realize you’re the only one you’re going to spend your whole life with, right?” it questioned.

Naruto wanted to hit it, but knew it would cancel the jutsu. This clone was one of the more philosophical ones. “Don’t be depressing.”

“I’m not.” The clone looked hurt. “I’m just saying, make sure that _you_ are someone _you’re_ going to be proud of even if no one else is.”

“I don’t understand things like that,” Naruto whined.

The clone laughed at him and reached out to ruffle his spiky blond hair.

“Deep down you do,” it stated, then shifted on the bed so that it could lie down beside the original and look him in the eye. “Let’s be awesome tomorrow.”

The clone smiled.

Naruto responded in kind. “Yeah,” he agreed and closed his eyes.

Tomorrow he would give it his all. And tomorrow night he would see what part of himself came out to keep him company in his empty apartment.


End file.
